An open letter from an 8th grade class president
On behalf of my constituents:
Could Albany please revisit test calendar? To whom it may concern at the New York State Education Department in Albany: I am Casey Hamlin, a fourteen-year-old student from Old Forge, NY attending Town of Webb Union Free School, a small school of about 300 students in Upstate NY.
As you may be well aware, our New York State Test dates have been changed, directly coinciding with our spring break.
Because of your department’s lack of consideration for these breaks, my family had to change our reservations, and pay the toll that comes with changing them.
This also coincides with our school’s Spirit Week celebrations.
This would normally seem very small compared to the vacation issue, but I am my class’s president, so I oversee all of my class’s Spirit Week operations, whether it’s designing our hallway or choosing who participates in the pep rally.
But due to my new revised vacation plans due to your “little” change, I can no longer run my “constituents” if you will, the way I should be able to.
I am an aspiring politician, and I was so happy when I won the election, but being told I cannot do all of my duties correctly because of the idiotic decisions made by my state, that just angers me to my core.
I’m not the only one unhappy about this, which you may also be well aware of.
I would at least like a detailed explanation to why this change needed to happen, why you needed to put a cost burden on us, and why you just couldn’t keep our tests where they were!
Sincerely,
Casey O. Hamlin, Old Forge
